Mesh Edit Panel

When creating mesh-dependent realizations with quad transitions, the quad transition meshes can overlap and disturb each other if more than one set of connectors is created too close to each other. The Connector Imprint panel enables you to reconcile such transitions with each other and then modify the underlying mesh to match the results, creating a seamless, properly meshed final result.

Location: Connectors module

Use of the Mesh Edit panel is generally only required when sets of connectors with quad transitions are located too close to each other for the specified mesh size.

Panel Options

Option Action
source Select elements to be imprinted into the destination mesh when the imprint is performed.
destination Select the elements which are intended to assimilate the imprint mesh.
elems to destination comp Organize imprint elements into the appropriate components of the destination mesh. Clear this checkbox to keep imprint elements in their origin component.


Figure 1.
create Apply the imprint based on the provided input.
reject Reverse the last imprint action.
Note: The imprint is finalized if you leave the panel, so that you cannot reject it if you leave the panel and then return again.
return Exit the panel. Save the current state of the imprint, but do not save the panel settings.

Conflicting Transitions Prevent Connector Realization

In Figure 2, the regular quad mesh can be easily performed. There is enough space available and the quad transition areas don't conflict each other.


Figure 2.

However, when the components are brought closer together, the realization is disturbed because the transition areas conflict with each other.

Smaller conflicts are resolved automatically when realizing the connectors. This releases the overlapping elements and performs a normal remesh in that area. This is permitted as long as the overlapping area is smaller than half the regular quad transition element size.


Figure 3.
However, if a conflict is too great it cannot be resolved in this fashion. For such cases, the Mesh Edit panel's functionality can be used to solve the problem.


Figure 4.
Ideally all connectors expected to conflict with each other are realized with the skip imprint option in a first step. This creates the weld elements and the mesh pattern for each connector. The pattern elements are organized into a component named ^conn_imprint.


Figure 5.
In the second step, the conflicting elements can be manually modified with all of the functions that Engineering Solutions provides.
Note: To ensure that the seam elements are completely attached to the underlying mesh after performing the mesh imprint, each element edge at the foot needs to be attached to at least one imprint element. The nodes at the seam foot have to stay untouched; otherwise the connector becomes unrealized.


Figure 6.
In a third step the manual mesh imprint is performed. The elements from the ^conn_imprint component are selected as the source and the elements from the affected components are selected as destination mesh.
Note: The mesh edit - imprint functionality can be used in various situations, but when using it together with connectors certain rules should be taken into account. The imprint mesh (source) should not cross the borders of the destination mesh or component, whether at a free edge or at a changeover to another component. Furthermore, the imprint mesh should not exceed a certain distance from the destination mesh. You can limit this by enabling the check max distance checkbox. Only when these requirements are met can reliable results can be expected.


Figure 7.
By enabling the elems to destination comp checkbox, the elements from the ^conn_imprint components are automatically organized into the appropriate destination components.


Figure 8.